332 PRACTICAL THOUGHTS ON PLENALVUS. 
At times the horse appeared considerably better, while at 
others he would seem to be at death’s door. He would take 
food when given by hand, but otherwise took no notice of the 
contents of the manger. 
On Tuesday, April 4th, he was down, and quite unable to 
rise, and having fallen away to almost a shadow, I advised 
the owner to have him destroyed, which was done yester- 
day, and the heart I have sent for your inspection and com- 
ments, if you think it worthy ; I thought it would also be 
interesting to the members of the Veterinary Medical 
Association. 
I may mention that the waggoner informed us the horse 
had not been really well for three or four months, appeared 
not to have his usual animation, or to feed as well as he had 
previously done. 
[The specimen to which Mr. Hill refers was a remarkably 
interesting one of disease of the heart, principally of the 
septum, between the ventricles, which was in a condition of 
hypertrophy, as were also the walls of the left ventricle. 
The mitral valves, as Mr. Hill remarks, were considerably 
thickened. There was no deposit of fatty tissue externally ; 
in fact, the fat round the base of the heart was deficient in 
quantity. The organ was normal in colour, and tolerably 
firm in texture. Eds.] 
PRACTICAL THOUGHTS ON PLENALVUS. 
By Thomas James Poulton, M.R.C.V.S., Wrotham. 
It is not my intention in the present instance to attempt 
to exhaust this subject, but to confine the few brief, hurried, 
and imperfect observations I propose to make to their 
more practical and yet, at the same time, conjointly scientific 
bearings. 
We must, in this affection, as in all others, thoroughly 
diagnose the disease, which to the practical student will not 
be very difficult, and we must, at the same time, which is 
even of more vital import, make ourselves as thoroughly 
acquainted as we can with the nature of the accumulations 
in the rumen. Again, we shall have to modify our treat- 
ment, if any considerable amount of gaseous eliminations 
coexists, and we shall find that the greater the amount of 
gas that is present the more speedy must be the employment 
